There are vehicle airbag installations wherein a panel has a deployment door which is integral with the panel. This door becomes opened during inflation of the airbag for providing a doorway outlet through the panel through which the inflating airbag deploys into the passenger compartment. The panel includes a tearable region, which may be called a tear region, serving as a boundary of the deployment door and which joins the deployment door with remaining areas of the panel in integral relationship. During deployment of the airbag, the deployment door is detached along the tear region from the panel for opening the doorway outlet.
The vehicle panel in which the deployment door is located may be an instrument panel or may be a side panel in the vehicle or may be some other panel appropriately positioned in the vehicle for deployment of an airbag into the passenger compartment. The panel has a front surface exposed to the passenger compartment and a rear surface behind which an airbag module is located.
In order to cut, tear and/or rip open the tear region in the panel, for detaching the deployment door along the tear region from remaining areas of the panel for opening a doorway outlet, it is conventional for a cutter to be aligned with the tear region. The inflating airbag provides driving force for pushing the cutter through the panel at the tear region for detaching the deployment door from the remainder of the panel along the tear region.
In the prior art such cutters are oriented in upright (upstanding) relationship. In other words, prior art cutters are oriented generally perpendicular to front surfaces of their panels so that their cutting edges are aimed forwardly at tear regions in their panels.
Problems with such prior art cutters can arise due to their always being oriented upright in their active cutting positions relative to front surfaces of panels at the tear regions. Such problems arise in the event that a person's head, chest, hand, arm or shoulder, etc. might impact against the panel near the tear region at a time when the airbag has not become deployed from its normal position behind the panel. The person's impact may depress a region of the panel against the cutter, thereby causing the cutter to protrude through the panel, and allowing the resultant protruding upright cutter to contact part of the person's body.